1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a card connector of electrically connecting a card incorporating ICs and/or memories, and a circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, electronic apparatus, such as a portable telephone, is provided with a card connector for accommodating a card including a memory device. Such a conventional acrd connector is described in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Number 2001-118633.
In FIGS. 7-9, the conventional card connector comprises a housing 2 for accommodating a card 1, a plurality of terminals 4 provided in a front wall 3 of the housing, a slider 6 slidable along a side wall 5 of the housing 2 in a back-and-forth direction, a lock mechanism 7 to control the movement of the slider 6 with respect to the housing 2, and a spring 8 provided between the housing 2 and the slider 6 for biasing the slider 6 rearwardly.
The slider 6 has a leaf spring 9 which is flexes and deforms in a lateral direction with the front end thereof as a fulcrum. The leaf spring 9 has an engaging section 10 which is bent inwardly to engage an engaging recess 11 that is provided a side of the card 1. An auxiliary leaf spring 12 provided along the side wall 5 of the housing 2 such that it flexes in the lateral direction with its front end as a fulcrum.
The lock mechanism 7 has an ejector button 13 which is to be pushed inwardly and biased by a spring body 14 outwardly so that it returns to the original position after pushed inwardly. The ejector button 13 has an engaging part 15 at the front top thereof to engage a wedge-shaped engaging projection 16 that is provided in the slider 6.
In FIG. 7, when the card 1 is inserted into the housing 2 from the rear side of the housing, the engaging section 10 of leaf spring 9 engages the engaging recess 11 of the card 1 to temporarily hold the card 1 in the slider 6. When the card 1 is further pushed against the resilient force of the spring body 8, the engaging projection engages the engaging part 15 to move it inwardly against the resilient force of the spring body 14 and advances and ride across the engaging part 15. In FIG. 8, when the engaging projection 16 rod across the engaging part 15, the engaging part 15 returns to the original position by the resilient force of the spring body 14, thus the slider 6 is locked with respect to the housing 2. Under this condition, the outward deformation of the leaf spring 9 is limited by an inside surface 17 of the side wall 5 of the housing 2 so that the card 1 is locked to the slider 6 and thus accommodated at an insertion position in the housing 2.
In order to remove the card 1 from the housing 2, the ejector button 13 is depressed. The engagement between the engaging section and projection 15 and 16 is released so that the slider 6 retreats with the card 1 to the temporarily-held position by the resilient force of the spring 8. In FIG. 9, when the card 1 is pulled backwardly, the leaf spring 9 flexes and deforms outwardly against the resilient force of the auxiliary leaf spring 12 to disengage the engaging section 10 from the engaging recess 11, thus enabling removal of the card 1 from the housing 2.
However, in the conventional card connector described in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Number 2001-118633, if the card 1 is forcibly pulled rearwardly from the insertion position, an excessive stress is applied to the side wall 5 of the housing 2 through the leaf spring 9 so that the side wall 5 can be broken or the leaf spring 9 can be deformed.
Also, the auxiliary leaf spring 12 is provided to strengthen the resilient force of the leaf spring 9 to prevent the card 1 from spring out from the temporarily-held position of the housing 2. It makes the structure of the card connector complicated and increases the manufacturing cost.